NFL draft | Ohio State: A mix of outcomes

Monday

Apr 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2009 at 10:41 AM

To leave or not to leave? That is the question many college football players face after their junior season, and there is no sure answer. As examples, take the cases of Ohio State's Donald Washington, Brian Hartline, Marcus Freeman and Alex Boone.

To leave or not to leave? That is the question many college football players face after their junior season, and there is no sure answer. As examples, take the cases of Ohio State's Donald Washington, Brian Hartline, Marcus Freeman and Alex Boone.

Washington, a cornerback, and Hartline, a receiver, opted to apply for the NFL draft despite playing in the shadows of higher-profile teammates last season.

Both gained a nice payoff yesterday.

Washington was the second player taken in the fourth round, by Kansas City. Hartline was picked four slots later by Miami. Both would have preferred to have been picked in the first two rounds Saturday, but Washington said that wasn't the point.

"All I could have asked for was an opportunity," said Washington, who like Hartline, was redshirted his freshman season. "Whether I stayed in school or not, somebody still had to have interest in me, still had to want me to be a part of their organization.

"So I don't regret anything. I had four fun years at Ohio State. I've done everything I could to make this happen."

Freeman, a linebacker, and Boone, an offensive tackle, were members of the OSU quintet -- along with cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, linebacker James Laurinaitis and receiver Brian Robiskie -- who returned for their senior season despite hearing good things about their draft prospects last year.

But yesterday, Freeman didn't get the call until the 18th pick of the fifth round, from Chicago.

"When the fourth round ended, I was like, 'Am I going to get drafted?' " Freeman said. "You go through so many emotions. But my agent was telling me to keep the faith, that once it was over I would not be worried about (slipping). And he was right, because right now I feel like a first-round pick, and I'm so excited."

He fared much better than Boone, who went undrafted and later signed with San Francisco as a free agent. An alcohol-related arrest this offseason likely played a role in that snub -- Boone was a three-year starter and was all-Big Ten last season.

A total of seven Buckeyes players were drafted, four on Saturday and three yesterday.

Hartline admitted he was nervous as the third round started, and at one point took a walk outside to calm down. When he went back inside, he started watching the movie The Wrestler instead of the draft coverage.

"Then all of a sudden my phone started vibrating," he said. "I was getting the call."

He would have taken a call from any of the 32 teams at that point, but ironically Miami was the one he saw as being the ideal fit, "from the city, to the people in that franchise, to the upswing the team is on."

He did not see getting picked as vindication for his decision to leave OSU after his junior season.

"I wasn't leaving for monetary reasons or anything like that," Hartline said. "It was just part of my life change and what I felt I wanted to do with my life."

• Also yesterday, University of Cincinnati defensive back DeAngelo Smith, an Independence High School graduate, went to the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round.